The BBC and CNN will be able to report freely from Zimbabwe for the first time in eight years after restrictions were lifted by the country's government.

Zimbabwe's minister of media, information and publicity, Webster Shamu, claimed that the BBC had never banned from "carrying out lawful activities" inside the country, but added that the BBC and his government had now "acknowledged the need to put behind us the mutually ruinous relationship of the past".

The thawing in relations with the BBC and CNN comes after Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party lost its majority in parliament for the first time in 28 years in last year's elections.

After months of political turmoil, Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai became prime minister, while Mugabe is president.

The BBC's world news editor, Jon Williams, and Africa bureau editor, Sarah Halfpenny, were involved in the talks with Shamu and his permanent secretary, George Charamba, according to the Zimbabwe Times.

Williams told MediaGuardian.co.uk: "We are pleased we have been able to reach an agreement and we look forward to being able to operate legally in Zimbabwe."

Declining to comment on the BBC's previous exclusion from the country, Williams said: "We all recognise the realities of the situation. If we look back, we will never look forward. We have different perspectives on this, but we have both agreed we need to look forward.

"The most important thing is not what has happened over the past 10 years, it is that we can go into Zimbabwe and report openly and legally."

Williams added that no restrictions had been placed on what the BBC could report and that it was currently considering whether it would open a full bureau in the country.

BBC correspondent Andrew Harding is currently in the country and will report live from there tomorrow.

After the meetings, Shamu sent a letter to the BBC which said: "We agreed that whatever communication problems which the BBC and the officials of the Zimbabwe [government] may have had in the past, the Zimbabwe government never banned the BBC from carrying out lawful activities inside Zimbabwe.

"For the purposes of the record, I restate the main points of our meeting. We acknowledged the need to put behind us the mutually ruinous relationship of the past."

Shamu's letter said the BBC had agreed to employ local people at a proposed bureau in Harare, adding that the corporation was free to send crews into Zimbabwe.

BBC reporters had been banned from Zimbabwe since 2001, although corporation journalists, including world affairs editor John Simpson, had managed to evade the ban by reporting from Zimbabwe undercover.

BBC reporters had officially been allowed in on two occasions since the ban: for the cricket World Cup in 2003, when some matches were played in Zimbabwe; and for the controversial England cricket tour to the country the following year.

A CNN spokesman said: "CNN has not been allowed to operate in Zimbabwe. We welcome the opportunity to do so going forwards."

A spokesman for Misa Zimbabwe, a non-governmental organisation that promotes free, independent and pluralistic media, said it welcomed the development.

"The government should in similar vein revisit the issue of banned publications such as the Daily News, Daily News on Sunday, the Tribune and Weekly Times by speedily processing their licences as agreed to in terms of the inclusive government's Global Political Agreement," Misa said in a statement.

"The government can further demonstrate its commitment to freeing the media environment by repealing repressive legislation such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Broadcasting Services Act to allow the entry of new players in both the print and broadcasting sector."

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